The Iridium axe is basically a chainsaw compared to the basic axe, the pickaxe becomes a pneumatic drill, the Iridium hoe is like a plough, and the Iridium watering can pumps out water faster than a firehose. Why no love for the scythe? Instead of the scythe being viewed as simply a scythe, this idea could be viewed as analogous to upgrading a harvesting machine. It could be upgraded on the same scales for cost and material required as the other tools, and improves what it can harvest as follows Basic scythe harvest one square current scythe crops of kale, wheat, amaranth, for which it remains compulsory harvest three wide when cutting hay Copper scythe harvest three squares can now also collect forage crops grown from seasonal wild seeds harvest five wide when cutting hay Steel scythe harvest five squares can now also collect single harvest crops harvest 3x3 when cutting hay Gold scythe harvest 3x3 squares can now also collect multi harvest crops harvest 6x3 when cutting hay Iridium scythe harvest 6x3 squares can now also collect trellis crops harvest 5x5 when cutting hay Like the hoe and watering can, energy cost reductions would be linked to Farming skill. And obviously you could still harvest crops by hand at zero energy cost, if you want to. Note The hay or crops criteria would be determined by the chosen tile, or if none selected, the square immediately in front of the character. If there is a crop on that tile, even if not yet ripe, it would be a harvest function. If not then it would be a hay function. But a hay function cannot harvest crops, nor can a crops function harvest hay. So if a particular operation crossed a boundary between crops and not crops, any tiles of the wrong type for that operation would be unaffected.
This would definitely be an awesome feature to the game! I see your point, why would we leave the poor, lonely scythe to rust away, while other tools upgrade? I sure hope CA adds this!